Além do visível: uso de tecnologia RTI nos objetos de metal da Península Itálica – acervo de Mediterrâneo MAE-USP

Neste artigo nos propomos a apresentar os resultados preliminares da pesquisa de pós-doutorado em andamento no MAE-USP. O objetivo da proposta é contextualizar criticamente os objetos de metal (adornos e ornamentos) em bronze e ferro do acervo do Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia da USP, adquiridos por intermédio de permuta ocorrida em 1964 entre o então Museu de Arte e Arqueologia da USP e museus italianos. Faz parte da pesquisa o uso de tecnologias digitais aplicadas ao material, principalmente a técnica Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI), com a qual pudemos oferecer um instrumental eficaz para análise das peças. Este material é proveniente da região centro-meridional da Península Itálica, com datações da Idade do Ferro, do período orientalizante e do período clássico. Intentamos dinamizar os acervos de Mediterrâneo do MAE-USP, por meio do aprofundamento das questões relacionadas à Arqueologia das sociedades proto-históricas e históricas da Península Itálica, da revisão bibliográfica, por intermédio de comparandas e de novas pesquisas arqueológicas. Com este estudo buscamos compreender melhor aspectos sócio-políticos comuns, o trânsito entre culturas e aspectos ligados às práticas de enterramento. Esta pesquisa propõe abarcar o sentido primeiro de um Museu Universitário: Pesquisa, Ensino e Extensão. Assim, buscamos reverberar o conhecimento produzido acerca deste material aos pesquisadores da área, ao público em geral e à instituição museológica. Nossa pesquisa tenciona resgatar um histórico documental do percurso das peças, seu acondicionamento no espaço deste Museu, suas problemáticas e histórico de pesquisa. Organizaremos as informações em fichas catalogadas em um banco de dados que viabilizará o acesso a um acervo organizado, com informações completas e fotos em alta resolução.

RTI metoda jako způsob digitalizace kulturního dědictví

Current technological developments offer an inexhaustible number of procedures for digitization. However, technological equipment intended for teams in professional laboratories reaches price levels that cultural institutions often do not have enough finances. Procedures and methods using equipment, which institutions often already own or are not so expensive to acquire, come to the fore. One of them is the RTI (Reflectance Transformation Imaging) method, which creates a spatial relief composed of a sequence of images with visible lighting. The RTI method is very successful in depicting illegible or wiped details and is already widely used in archaeology.

A Case for Coexistence of Different Potting Practices – Baltic Ware in Latvia

Latvia in the 11th–13th century poses a curious case for the coexistence of two different practices of Baltic ware production. The Baltic ware pots from lower reaches of the River Daugava and from the Courland region look not just stylistically, but also technologically different. Our paper assessed the production traces by using macro-observations, Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) and extensive ethnographic material of Slavic pottery production of the 1900s, as well as using modern replicas as visual aids to assist in the identification of the principal coil attachment methods. The results showed that potters from the lower reaches of Daugava used the wheel’s rotation extensively during the shaping process of Baltic ware. The production of the pots required the potter to possess a level of technical skill which implied a level of professionalisation. Baltic ware from Courland was less technically complicated and used comparatively more of the methods of handmade pottery production.

The Palermo Stone and its Associated Fragments: New Discoveries on the Oldest Royal Annals of Ancient Egypt

Historical royal sources concerning Old Kingdom Egypt are rather scarce. One of the most important is a group of seven inscribed stone fragments also known as royal annals, the most famous of which is certainly the so-called Palermo Stone. These annals have been the subject of countless studies over more than a century since their initial discovery. However, the reading and interpretation of the hieroglyphic inscriptions engraved on them is still partial and often obscure. In recent years, however, the annals underwent a complete re-examination by means of the most up-to date technologies of 3D photographic documentation and reproduction – first of all, the so-called ‘Reflectance Transformation Imaging’ (RTI). In this article we will provide some insights on the new reading of selected parts of the fragments, especially the two major pieces: the Palermo Stone and the so-called ‘Cairo Fragment 1’.

Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) Investigation of Engraved Chalk Plaques from the Stonehenge Region

Newly discovered and previously documented Late Neolithic chalk plaques from the Stonehenge locality have been subjected to new, non-invasive techniques which allow access to previously unseen elements of archaeological evidence. The application of these methods – involving Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) and Polynomial Texture Mapping (PTM) – has revealed detail of the surface preparation and allowed methods and sequence of the compositions to be unpicked, clarifying their complexities. The results reveal a range of approaches to the compositions, some of which demonstrate planning, order, and intention while others include less systematic, rapidly executed sketches. Investigations of lines and surfaces have been made, supplemented by preliminary studies of replicated test pieces, to examine potential implements used in their creation and remark on plaque biographies and surface attrition following manufacture. Furthermore, detail revealed by RTI provides indications of the orientations in which some of the plaques should be viewed and – in one instance – suggests a ‘reflected’ element that may not be entirely abstract. Results from improved radiocarbon determinations place the plaques in the early part of the 3rd millennium bc which, together with identification of individual motifs, allows the plaques and the designs to be reconsidered within the corpus of Neolithic art in the British Isles.

Making a Mark: Process, Pattern and Change in the British and Irish Neolithic

This paper presents key results of the Making a Mark project (2014–2016), which aimed to provide a contextual framework for the analysis of mark making on portable artefacts in the British and Irish Neolithic by comparing them with other mark-making practices, including rock art and passage tomb art. The project used digital imaging techniques, including Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI), and improved radiocarbon chronologies, to develop a new understanding of the character of mark making in the British and Irish Neolithic. Rather than considering this tradition in representational terms, as expression of human ideas, we focus on two kinds of relational material practices, the processes of marking and the production of skeuomorphs, and their emergent properties. We draw on Karen Barad's concept of ‘intra-action’ and Gilles Deleuze's notion of differentiation to understand the evolution and development of mark-making traditions and how they relate to other kinds of social practices over the course of the Neolithic.

Reflectance transformation imaging for documenting changes through treatment of Joseon dynasty coins

We present reflectance transformation imaging (RTI) as a documentation tool for visualizing and recording the treatment of coins. RTI—a computational photograph technique that calculates light positions—allows interactive relighting for vision. Virtual light enhances surface details for examining morphological difference. By applying Dome RTI method, stages of conservation treatment were recorded to enhance the overall characteristic features of the relief upon the coin surface, and then detect and identify weathered characters. Patina removal and consolidation were documented along with the original state; a significant difference in the coin’s surface was observed using different filters of the RTI viewer. Specular enhancement and normal visualization results were most effective for detecting the change in morphology and reflectivity. Microscopic RTI was applied to visualized minimal changes of characters between treatment stages. Character “常” of coin 1 showed changes in the cleaning of dirt and removal of alumina powder. The character “元” of coin 3, originally covered by a thick patina, revealed clear strokes using virtual relighting through RTI. These documentation images indicate that RTI is a promising tool to support manual recording of conservation stages and, furthermore, allow detection of areas difficult to visualize through the human eye.